Manti Te'o Catfishing Saga is Focus of Netflix Documentary Untold
(CNN) — Manti Te'o used to be revered.In high school, Te'o was an all-around star — beloved by those around him and on track for a full football scholarship at the University of Notre Dame.
He was the golden boy in his Hawaii hometown, active in his faith and easy to get along with.Then tragedy struck. His grandma died, then his girlfriend.
Both on the same day.Only, his girlfriend didn't actually die. His girlfriend, the media discovered, didn't even exist.It was a catfish all along —with Ronaiah "Naya" Tuiasosopo, the woman behind the hoax, caught in the middle.Te'o, Tuiasosopo, and the elaborate 2013 hoax are the subject of a new two-part documentary, Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist, directed by Ryan Duffy and Tony Vainuku, out Tuesday on Netflix.The story of Te'o and his fake girlfriend is a well-known one, but the story of Tuiasosopo — who created the fictional girlfriend as a way to come to terms with her own gender dysphoria — is less so.
Tuiasosopo has since come out as a transgender woman.Though audiences may first recognize Te'o's name, the documentary opens with Tuiasosopo.
